


Nightmare

by YourBones



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Comfort, Crying, Darth Vader - Freeform, Din Djarin - Freeform, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Good Parent Din Djarin, Grogu - Freeform, Grogu has a bad dream, Hurt Din Djarin, Hurt/Comfort, Luke Skywalker - Freeform, Mando, Nightmares, Order 66, Planet Coruscant (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Pre-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Protective Din Djarin, Soft Din Djarin, Star Wars - Freeform, The Clone Wars - Freeform, The Jedi, The Mandalorian (TV) References, The Mandalorian (TV) Season 2, The Mandalorian (TV) Season 2 Spoilers, The Mandalorian (TV) Spoilers, The Razor Crest - Freeform, Tumblr, anakin skywalker - Freeform, grogu djarin, jedi order, kasielartist, soft, the Jedi Temple, the mandalorian - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-18 23:34:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29865756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourBones/pseuds/YourBones
Summary: Grogu snuggles into the cool Beskar. His heart slows. This isn't Coruscant. This isn't the Jedi Temple. This is home.He shuts his eyes."I'm here," the Mandalorian says. "You're safe."
Relationships: Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda
Comments: 6
Kudos: 155





	Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wordscarvedbywolves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordscarvedbywolves/gifts).



> Based on the work of kasielartist.

The sleek blue lightsaber burns through the dark.

Grogu's eyes shut tight before he can see another youngling fall beneath it. The screams of the other children slice through the night. 

Grogu doesn't understand. Master Skywalker was supposed to protect and rescue them.

The child's heart beats rapidly, testing the confines of his little chest. It grows tighter and tighter as cries reverberate through the Jedi Temple. 

He feels like he can't breathe.

There's nowhere to go. They're trapped.

Hesitantly, Grogu peers through the dark, tiny claws gripping the corner as he dares to look at the massacre.

The Jedi's back is turned. He's draped in a long, black cloak. His hood is over his head, shielding his face from view.

He's slaughtering them.

Master Skywalker is surrounded by the corpses of younglings. He turns his attention to another youngling who is trying to escape. He holds up his left hand—the one not wielding his lightsaber.

The Jedi force-chokes the child to death as Grogu looks on helplessly in terror. He watches the life slip from his classmate's widening eyes.

The little boy cries, clawing at his throat desperately, begging for air. He retches, his whole body convulsing, until his silence stings Grogu's ears. Tears stream down his small cheeks as he watches the last little boy drop to the floor, limp and eyes open, bloodshot. 

Grogu gasps aloud. He doesn't mean to.

Master Skywalker's head turns swiftly around, glaring at the small alien that cowers in the darkness.

One last youngling.

The Jedi's eyes are red, piercing, full of hate. His cloak casts a nefarious shadow that flits across his rage-ridden face. 

He strides towards the remaining child like a specter in the night.

Blue light flickers across Grogu's small, perturbed features.

There's nothing he can do. 

He grimaces as Master Skywalker raises his saber high, brings it down, and—

_

Grogu is jolted from sleep.

Startled and groggy, it takes him a moment to remember where he is.

He hears the familiar hums of the Razor Crest. The soft mechanical whirs, the gentle clicks, the ambient, muffled beeps, and the quiet rumble of the Mandalorian's ship drifting through space.

_Safe._

He's safe here.

This isn't Coruscant. This isn't the Jedi Temple.

This is _home._

Grogu squints into the black. He's in his warm hammock, nestled in a small pile of blankets that are wrapped around his small form. He's in the same spot the Mandalorian tucked him in several hours earlier.

Grogu's heart hammers in his big ears, throbbing with panic, still trying to process the nightmare. He's caught in the hazy in-between of being asleep and awake. Reality is still settling in.

It wasn't real.

A nightmare. That's all it was.

And yet, the tiny alien can't shake the terror that plagued him when he slept. His mind begins to race, thinking of what he saw. 

The younglings. His classmates. His friends.

They _were_ real.

And now they're gone, slain in cold blood.

He's shaken, thinking of how their lives were ended so quickly that night, so many years ago. Now they're just a memory.

A nightmare.

Those younglings—his friends—they would be Jedis by now.

Grown-ups. 

_Alive._

But they're gone, and they've been gone for years. They never had the chance to grow up, to develop their abilities.

And here Grogu is, years later, safe, far away from Coruscant, buddled up in a warm bed, under the care of a selfless Mandalorian.

A Mandalorian who swore to protect and nurture him. 

His father.

Grogu wonders why he is so lucky. Why did his friends have to die? Why did he get to live?

The nightmare flashes through Grogu's mind.

_Master Skywalker is surrounded by the corpses of younglings._

He doesn't want to think about it anymore.

_Blood splatters the floor._

He wants to remember his friends for who they were, not how they died.

_Cries slice through the darkness._

He escaped. He wants to leave the massacre behind.

_Grogu's ears ring as screams erupt around him with every bloodthirsty slice of the blue saber._

The little alien sees it all.

The faces of those who died, the gore.

He _feels_ it all. 

Their pain, their fear.

Grogu's brown eyes gloss over with tears as he shudders with a sob.

_

Din's reworking some wiring in the cockpit when he first hears the cries.

He pauses mid-fix. Maybe he's hearing things.

Then it comes again.

It's a soft, muffled sob—as if it wasn't meant to be heard. 

The Mandalorian whips his head to the doors of the cockpit. He put Grogu down for bed only a few hours ago. He shouldn't be waking up yet. He needs a few more hours of sleep, at least, or the Mandalorian will be dealing with a fussy toddler.

Din sighs. 

"Kid?" He calls. His voice is rough and low with exhaustion. 

Nothing. 

Din listens and hears the sob again. 

He freezes. 

_Dank farrik._

He drops the red wires in his hand and quickly makes for the doors. They part for him, and he drops down the ladder with a _thud_.

"Hey, kid," he says, turning to the little hammock he made for the child. He stops in his tracks when he sees the tears that flow steadily from the little alien's closed eyes. Grogu's tiny frame shudders as he sucks in a tiny, distraught breath. He clutches the nest of blankets around him tightly—as if they will keep him safe.

Din's voice softens. He sounds surprised. "Grogu?"

Startled, Grogu's eyes flash open, swimming with tears. He looks up at the Mandalorian sheepishly. His little cheeks are wet.

The Mandalorian's heart sinks.

"Are you okay?" Din asks, concerned.

More tears slip down his son's face.

"What's going on, pal? Bad dream?"

Grogu's ears turn downward and he coos sadly at the tall statue of Beskar that looms over him. 

"Hey," Din says. "Hey, kid, it's alright."

Grogu's eyes glimmer, pooling with moisture. He whines softly.

"It's okay. It was just a nightmare," Din says, his voice soft and soothing as he picks the little alien up and into his arms. "Don't worry, buddy. Everything's alright. Nothing's going to happen." 

Din sits on the bed beneath the hammock, taking Grogu into the crook of his arm. He lets the child hold his hand. Din runs his gloved thumb over Grogu's tinier one to soothe him.

Grogu snuggles into the cool Beskar, hugging his father. His heart slows.

This isn't Coruscant. This isn't the Jedi Temple.

This is _home._

"I'm here," the Mandalorian says. 

Grogu shuts his eyes.

He hears the familiar hums of the Razor Crest. The soft mechanical whirs, the gentle clicks, the ambient, muffled beeps, and the quiet rumble of the Mandalorian's ship drifting through space.

"You're safe."


End file.
